Md. Sayedul Islam inaugurated the greenhouse complex along with Golam Faruq and Md. Benojir Alam. (Credit: Timothy J. Krupnik/CIMMYT)
A new greenhouse complex, built with financial support from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), at the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI) was inaugurated on 13 August 2022. The greenhouse was built at BWMRI’s headquarters in Dinajpur, Bangladesh.
This complex has a room for generator, a sample preparation room and space for a small laboratory. These upgrades will add new momentum for greenhouse activities and BWMRI and CIMMYT scientists designed the facility to accommodate wheat scientists from Bangladesh and other countries.
The BWMRI has been working to combat wheat blast disease since 2016, with financial and technical support from CIMMYT and other investors. CIMMYT has also assisted the Government of Bangladesh in developing an early warning system for wheat blast.
Because of the challenging phenology of synthetic wheat and introductions from winter and facultative wheat zones, field condition evaluation of these germplasm is difficult and the greenhouse will help ease this hurdle. Additionally, several pathological experiments investigating the biology of wheat blast will now be able to be performed in the new greenhouse facility.
Supplementary activities at the greenhouse include disease screening and research into unlocking the genetics of host resistance. The installation of a diesel generator will keep the greenhouse running in case of power outages.
Visitors to the newly constructed greenhouse at the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute. (Credit: Rezaul Kabir/BWMRI)
Md. Sayedul Islam, Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, inaugurated the greenhouse complex. Additional attendees at the opening included Shaikh Mohammad Bokhtiar, Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), Golam Faruq, Director General of BWMRI, Mirza Mofazzal Islam, Director General of the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), Debasish Sarker, Director General of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Md. Benojir Alam, Director General of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), and Md. Abdul Wadud, Executive Director and Additional Secretary at the Bangladesh Institute of Research and Training on Applied Nutrition (BIRTAN). Timothy J. Krupnik, country representative of CIMMYT in Bangladesh, was also present.
Washiq Faisal is a Research Associate with CIMMYT’s sustainable intensification program, based in Bangladesh. He joined CIMMYT in 2014 and has been involved in applied agricultural research to tackle food insecurity through improved nutrient-rich, high-yielding varieties and sustainable agronomic practices for nearly 15 years.
Faisal is involved in innovative and multi-disciplinary research focused on the principles of sustainable and ecological intensification in smallholder dominated and tropical agricultural systems in Bangladesh. His current research focuses on climate-driven epidemiology of two crop diseases, Stemphylium blight of lentil and wheat leaf rust.
In collaboration with the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) and Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Extension, Faisal learnt how to use Agvisely, an agro-meteorological services tool providing location-specific advice to farmers.
Written by Bea Ciordia on . Posted in Uncategorized.
The Managing Wheat Blast in Bangladesh: Identification and Introgression of Wheat Blast Resistance for Rapid Varietal Development and Dissemination project aims to characterize novel sources of wheat blast resistance, identification, and molecular mapping of resistance loci/gene(s) and their introgression into varietal development pipelines for rapid dissemination of resistant varieties in Bangladesh.
Objectives
Validate the effects of genes Rmg1, Rmg8 and RmgGR119 in field experiments
Identify novel wheat blast resistant sources and generating the corresponding genetic materials for investigating the resistance Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL)/genes
Monitor the adoption of resistant varieties BARI Gom 33 and WMRI Gom 3 by women and men farmers to learn the drivers and obstacles that are involved in the process, to inform the design of a farmer-preferred product profile, and factors in impact pathway
Build the capacity of the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI) to operate major infrastructure in Jashore and Dinajpur at the individual and institutional levels
Enhance collaboration between Bangladesh and other countries showing interest on wheat blast
Train young wheat researchers and breeders in Jashore Precision Phenotyping Platform (PPP)
More than 40% of the global agricultural labor force is made up of women, and in the least developed countries, two in three women are employed in farming. Yet, despite being the largest contributors to this sector, women’s potential as farmers, producers and entrepreneurs is frequently untapped due to gender inequalities, limited access to farming assets and inputs, low participation in decision-making spaces, and lack of financing and capacity-building opportunities.
Tackling these gendered barriers is critical not only to help women achieve their highest economic potential, but also to feed an increasingly hungry world. Before this year’s Women’s History Month comes to an end, read the stories of three Bangladeshi women—Begum, Akter and Rani—to find out how the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are empowering them to become decision-makers in their communities, learn new skills and knowledge to boost their incomes, and advocate for bending gender norms across the country.
Embracing agricultural mechanization has improved Begum’s family finances
Rina Begum lives in Faridpur, a major commercial hub in southern Bangladesh. Before starting a business, her financial situation was precarious. Her primary source of income was her husband’s work as a day laborer, which brought in very little money. This, coupled with the lack of job security, made it hard to support a family.
Rina Begum started out in business as a service provider, hiring agricultural machines to farmers.
About five years ago, Begum’s interest in agricultural mechanization was ignited by the farmers in her town, who were earning extra money by investing in farm machinery and hiring it out. Her first foray into the business world was buying a shallow irrigation pump and setting herself up as a service provider. Next, she saw her neighbor using a power tiller operated seeder and decided to try one out for herself. Finally, after taking part in a potential machinery buyer program run by CIMMYT under the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia – Mechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MEA) and funded by USAID, she took the bold step of purchasing a seeder and adding it to her inventory of machines available for hire.
While her husband learned to operate the seeder, Begum put her business and accounting skills to good use, taking on an essential role in what ended up being the family business and establishing herself as an entrepreneur. Her work defied the established social norms, as she regularly interacted with the mechanics and farmers who came to her for mechanized services. Moreover, she occasionally stepped up alongside her husband to repair and maintain the machines. All this earned Begum a reputation as an experienced service provider, operator and mechanic, and turned her into a decision-maker and a role model to her family and community.
In 2021, Begum used her business profits to pick up the bill for her daughter’s marriage. “I know this job inside-out now,” she says, “and I’m really proud to have paid for the wedding myself.”
This taste of success fueled Begum’s appetite to expand the business even further, pushing her to take part in another training offered by CIMMYT, this time in mat-seedling production. Moreover, Begum, who plans to grow seedlings to sell on to rice farmers this year, has applied for a government subsidy to buy a rice transplanter, which can be hired out for use with mat-seedlings, and increase her stock of agricultural machinery.
With her new skills, Akter is advancing gender equality in Bangladesh’s light engineering sector
At age 18, Nilufar Akter (pictured top) passed her high school certificate and soon after married Rezaul Karim, the owner of a light engineering workshop in Bogura, a city in northern Bangladesh, that manufactures agricultural machinery parts, with a workforce mainly composed of men. Akter’s ambition was to go out into the workplace and make her own money, so when Karim asked her to work alongside him, she agreed and soon became a valuable part of the business. Her primary responsibilities were inventory management and marketing, as well as business management, which she found more difficult.
Reza Engineering Workshop began working with CIMMYT in 2020 as part of CSISA-MEA, an initiative that supports light engineering workshops in Bangladesh with staff development, access to finance, management, and business growth. Under this project, CIMMYT organized a management training at the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), which Akter attended. With the confidence these new skills gave her, she went back to the workshop and introduced a few changes, including building a computerized finance management system and updating the stack management. Moreover, she also established a dedicated restroom for female employees.
“We need human resources to maintain things in the business—and women can do a fantastic job”, Akter says. “We had no idea what good source of strength women workers would be for the factory. Therefore, if we provided them with adequate facilities, we could create jobs for many women who really need them”, she adds.
Akter’s current priorities are workshop safety and occupational health, two issues she’s tackling using the knowledge she learned in the CIMMYT training. Recently, she’s created some occupational health and safety posters, and established a series of workshop rules. “I used to think I wasn’t cut out for light engineering because it was primarily male-dominated, but I was mistaken”, Akter confesses. “This industry has a lot to offer to women, and I’m excited at the prospect of hiring more of them”, she adds.
Producing better quality rice has boosted the income of Rani and her family
Monika Rani lives in Khoshalpur, a village located in Dinajpur district in northern Bangladesh, with her husband Liton Chandra Roy and their two-year-old child. They farm just a quarter of a hectare of land, and Liton supplements their income with occasional wages earned as a day laborer.
Monika Rani wanted to increase her family’s income to provide better schooling opportunities for her children.
Rani was looking for ways to increase their income so they could give their children an education and a better life. During last year’s boro rice-growing season (December to May), she and her husband joined the premium grade rice production team of CIMMYT as part of CSISA-MEA. The market value and yield of premium quality rice is greater than other types, so when Rani heard that she could make more money producing that variety, she decided to make a start right away. CIMMYT provided her with five kgs of premium seed for the 2021-22 winter season and trained her in premium quality rice production technology and marketing, which she followed to the letter.
Through hard work and persistence, Rani and her husband avoided the need to hire any additional labor and were rewarded with the maximum yield possible. She dried the premium quality rice grain according to buyer demand and sold 1,600 kgs, in addition to 140 kgs to farmers in her town.
“Knowing about premium quality rice production has tremendously changed my future for the better,” Rani explains. “I had no idea that, through my own hard effort, I could have a better life”, she added.
Cover photo: Nilufar Akter is using the knowledge she gained in CIMMYT training to focus on workshop safety and occupational health in her business.
Pragya Timsina interviewing a farmer in Rangpur, Bangladesh. (Photo: Manisha Shrestha/CIMMYT)
Researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have studied and witnessed that women, particularly in South Asia, have strongly ingrained and culturally determined gender roles.
While women play a critical part in agriculture, their contributions are oftentimes neglected and underappreciated. Is there any way to stop this?
On International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we spoke to Pragya Timsina about how women’s participation in agriculture is evolving across the Eastern Gangetic Plains and her findings which will be included in a paper coming out later this year: ‘Necessity as a driver of bending agricultural gender norms in South Asia’. Pragya is a Social Researcher at CIMMYT, based in New Delhi, India. She has worked extensively across different regions in India and is currently involved in various projects in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
What is the current scenario in the Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia on gender disparities and women’s involvement in agriculture? Is it the same in all locations that your research covered?
Currently, traditional roles, limited mobility, societal criticism for violating gender norms, laborious unmechanized agricultural labor, and unacknowledged gender roles are among the social and cultural constraints that women face in the Eastern Gangetic Plains. Our research shows that while these norms exist throughout the Eastern Gangetic Plains, there are outliers, and an emerging narrative that is likely to lead to further bending (but not breaking, yet) of such norms.
Are there any factors that limit women from participating in agriculture?
Cultural and religious norms have influence gender roles differently in different households but there are definitely some common societal trends. Traditionally, women are encouraged to take on roles such as household chores, childcare, and livestock rearing, but our research in the Eastern Gangetic Plains found that in specific regions such as Cooch Behar (West Bengal), women were more actively involved in agriculture and even participated in women-led village level farmers’ groups.
How or what can help increase women’s exposure to agricultural activities?
At the community level, causes of change in gender norms include the lack of available labor due to outmigration, the necessity to participate in agriculture due to a labor shortage, and a greater understanding and exposure to others who are not constrained by gendered norms. There are instances where women farmers are provided access and exposure to contemporary and enhanced technology advances, information, and entrepreneurial skills that may help them become knowledgeable and acknowledged agricultural decision makers. In this way, research projects can play an important role in bending these strongly ingrained gendered norms and foster change.
In a context where several programs are being introduced to empower women in agriculture, why do you think they haven’t helped reduce gender inequality?
Our study reveals that gender norms that already exist require more than project assistance to transform.
While some women in the Eastern Gangetic Plains have expanded their engagement in public places as they move away from unpaid or unrecognized labor, this has not always mirrored shifts in their private spaces in terms of decision-making authority, which is still primarily controlled by men.
Although, various trends are likely to exacerbate this process of change, such as a continued shortage of available labor and changing household circumstances due to male outmigration, supportive family environments, and peer support.
What lessons can policymakers and other stakeholders take away to help initiate gender equality in agriculture?
Although gender norms are changing, I believe they have yet to infiltrate at a communal and social level. This demonstrates that the bending of culturally established and interwoven systemic gender norms across the Eastern Gangetic Plains are still in the early stages of development. To foster more equitable agricultural growth, policymakers should focus on providing inclusive exposure opportunities for all community members, regardless of their standing in the household or society.
What future do the women in agriculture perceive?
Increasing development projects are currently being targeted towards women. In certain circumstances, project interventions have initiated a shift in community attitudes toward women’s participation. There has been an upsurge in women’s expectations, including a desire to be viewed as equal to men and to participate actively in agriculture. These patterns of women defying gender norms appear to be on the rise.
What is your take on women’s participation in agriculture, to enhance the desire to be involved in agriculture?
Higher outmigration, agricultural labor shortages, and increased shared responsibilities, in my opinion, are likely to expand rural South Asian women’s participation in agricultural operations but these are yet to be explored in the Eastern Gangetic Plains. However, appropriate policies and initiatives must be implemented to ensure continued and active participation of women in agriculture. When executing any development projects, especially in the Eastern Gangetic Plains, policies and interventions must be inclusive, participatory, and take into account systemic societal norms that tend to heavily impact women’s position in the society.
Genomic selection identifies individual plants based on the information from molecular markers, DNA signposts for genes of interest, that are distributed densely throughout the wheat genome. For wheat blast, the results can help predict which wheat lines hold promise as providers of blast resistance for future crosses and those that can be advanced to the next generation after selection.
In this study, scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and partners evaluated genomic selection by combining genotypic data with extensive and precise field data on wheat blast responses for three sets of genetically diverse wheat lines and varieties, more than 700 in all, grown by partners at locations in Bangladesh and Bolivia over several crop cycles.
The study also compared the use of a small number of molecular markers linked to the 2NS translocation, a chromosome segment from the grass species Aegilops ventricosa that was introduced into wheat in the 1980s and is a strong and stable source of blast resistance, with predictions using thousands of genome-wide markers. The outcome confirms that, in environments where wheat blast resistance is determined by the 2NS translocation, genotyping using one-to-few markers tagging the translocation is enough to predict the blast response of wheat lines.
Finally, the authors found that selection based on a few wheat blast-associated molecular markers retained 89% of lines that were also selected using field performance data, and discarded 92% of those that were discarded based on field performance data. Thus, both marker-assisted selection and genomic selection offer viable alternatives to the slower and more expensive field screening of many thousands of wheat lines in hot-spot locations for the disease, particularly at early stages of breeding, and can speed the development of blast-resistant wheat varieties.
The research was conducted by scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI), the Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agropecuaria y Forestal (INIAF) of Bolivia, the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in India, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Alnarp), and Kansas State University in the USA. Funding for the study was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office of the United Kingdom, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Swedish Research Council, and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
Cover photo: A researcher from Bangladesh shows blast infected wheat spikes and explains how the disease directly attacks the grain. (Photo: Chris Knight/Cornell University)
CIMMYT-Bangladesh country representative Timothy J. Krupnik was the guest of honor at a day-long workshop organized by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) on fall armyworm management in the country.
As wheat blast continues to infect crops in countries around the world, researchers are seeking ways to stop its spread. The disease — caused by the Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum — can dramatically reduce crop yields, and hinder food and economic security in the regions in which it has taken hold.
Researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and other international institutions looked into the potential for wheat blast to spread, and surveys existing tactics used to combat it. According to them, a combination of methods — including using and promoting resistant varieties, using fungicides, and deploying strategic agricultural practices — has the best chance to stem the disease.
The disease was originally identified in Brazil in 1985. Since then, it has spread to several other countries in South America, including Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. During the 1990s, wheat blast impacted as many as three million hectares in the region. It continues to pose a threat.
Through international grain trade, wheat blast was introduced to Bangladesh in 2016. The disease has impacted around 15,000 hectares of land in the country and reduced average yields by as much as 51% in infected fields.
Because the fungus’ spores can travel on the wind, it could spread to neighboring countries, such as China, India, Nepal and Pakistan — countries in which wheat provides food and jobs for billions of people. The disease can also spread to other locales via international trade, as was the case in Bangladesh.
“The disease, in the first three decades, was spreading slowly, but in the last four or five years its pace has picked up and made two intercontinental jumps,” said Pawan Singh, CIMMYT’s head of wheat pathology, and one of the authors of the recent paper.
In the last four decades, wheat blast has appeared in South America, Asia an Africa. (Video: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)
The good fight
Infected seeds are the most likely vector when it comes to the disease spreading over long distances, like onto other continents. As such, one of the key wheat blast mitigation strategies is in the hands of the world’s governments. The paper recommends quarantining potentially infected grain and seeds before they enter a new jurisdiction.
Governments can also create wheat “holidays”, which functionally ban cultivation of wheat in farms near regions where the disease has taken hold. Ideally, this would keep infectable crops out of the reach of wheat blast’s airborne and wind-flung spores. In 2017, India banned wheat cultivation within five kilometers of Bangladesh’s border, for instance. The paper also recommends that other crops — such as legumes and oilseed — that cannot be infected by the wheat blast pathogen be grown in these areas instead, to protect the farmers’ livelihoods.
Other tactics involve partnerships between researchers and agricultural workers. For instance, early warning systems for wheat blast prediction have been developed and are being implemented in Bangladesh and Brazil. Using weather data, these systems alert farmers when the conditions are ideal for a wheat blast outbreak.
Researchers are also hunting for wheat varieties that are resistant to the disease. Currently, no varieties are fully immune, but a few do show promise and can partially resist the ailment depending upon the disease pressure. Many of these resistant varieties have the CIMMYT genotype Milan in their pedigree.
“But the resistance is still limited. It is still quite narrow, basically one single gene,” Xinyao He, one of the co-authors of the paper said, adding that identifying new resistant genes and incorporating them into breeding programs could help reduce wheat blast’s impact.
Wheat spikes damaged by wheat blast. (Photo: Xinyao He/CIMMYT)
The more the merrier
Other methods outlined in the paper directly involve farmers. However, some of these might be more economically or practically feasible than others, particularly for small-scale farmers in developing countries. Wheat blast thrives in warm, humid climates, so farmers can adjust their planting date so the wheat flowers when the weather is drier and cooler. This method is relatively easy and low-cost.
The research also recommends that farmers rotate crops, alternating between wheat and other plants wheat blast cannot infect, so the disease will not carry over from one year to the next. Farmers should also destroy or remove crop residues, which may contain wheat blast spores. Adding various minerals to the soil, such as silicon, magnesium, and calcium, can also help the plants fend off the fungus. Another option is induced resistance, applying chemicals to the plants such as jasmonic acid and ethylene that trigger its natural resistance, much like a vaccine, Singh said.
Currently, fungicide use, including the treatment of seeds with the compounds, is common practice to protect crops from wheat blast. While this has proven to be somewhat effective, it adds additional costs which can be hard for small-scale farmers to swallow. Furthermore, the pathogen evolves to survive these fungicides. As the fungus changes, it can also gain the ability to overcome resistant crop varieties. The paper notes that rotating fungicides or developing new ones — as well as identifying and deploying more resistant genes within the wheat — can help address this issue.
However, combining some of these efforts in tandem could have a marked benefit in the fight against wheat blast. For instance, according to Singh, using resistant wheat varieties, fungicides, and quarantine measures together could be a time-, labor-, and cost-effective way for small-scale farmers in developing nations to safeguard their crops and livelihoods.
“Multiple approaches need to be taken to manage wheat blast,” he said.
A blast-blighted stalk of wheat. (Photo: Chris Knight/Cornell)
Every year, the spores of the wheat blast fungus lie in wait on farms in South America, Bangladesh, and beyond. In most years, the pathogen has only a small impact on the countries’ wheat crops. But the disease spreads quickly, and when the conditions are right there’s a risk of a large outbreak — which can pose a serious threat to the food security and livelihood of farmers in a specific year.
To minimize this risk, an international partnership of researchers and organizations have created the wheat blast Early Warning System (EWS), a digital platform that notifies farmers and officials when weather conditions are ideal for the fungus to spread. The team, which began its work in Bangladesh, is now introducing the technology to Brazil — the country where wheat blast was originally discovered in 1985.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), Brazil’s University of Passo Fundo (UPF) and others developed the tool with support from USAID under the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project.
Although first developed with the help of Brazilian scientists for Bangladesh, the EWS has now come full circle and is endorsed and being used by agriculture workers in Brazil. The team hopes that the system will give farmers time to take preventative measures against the disease.
Outbreaks can massively reduce crop yields, if no preventative actions are taken.
“It can be very severe. It can cause a lot of damage,” says Maurício Fernandes, a plant epidemiologist with EMBRAPA.
Striking first
In order to expand into a full outbreak, wheat blast requires specific temperature and humidity conditions. So, Fernandes and his team developed a digital platform that runs weather data through an algorithm to determine the times and places in which outbreaks are likely to occur.
If the system sees a region is going to grow hot and humid enough for the fungus to thrive, it sends an automated message to the agriculture workers in the area. These messages — texts or emails — alert them to take preemptive measures against the disease.
More than 6,000 extension agents in Bangladesh have already signed up for disease early warnings.
In Brazil, Fernandes and his peers are connecting with farmer cooperatives. These groups, which count a majority of Brazilian farmers as members, can send weather data to help inform the EWS, and can spread alerts through their websites or in-house applications.
Wheat blast can attack a plant quickly, shriveling and deforming the grain in less than a week from the first symptoms. Advance warnings are essential to mitigate losses. The alerts sent out will recommend that farmers apply fungicide, which only works when applied before infection.
“If the pathogen has already affected the plant, the fungicides will have no effect,” Fernandes says.
A blast from the past
Because wheat had not previously been exposed to Magnaporthe oryzae, most wheat cultivars at the time had no natural resistance to Magnaporthe oryzae, according to Fernandes. Some newer varieties are moderately resistant to the disease, but the availability of sufficient seed for farmers remains limited.
The pathogen can spread through leftover infected seeds and crop residue. But its spores can also travel vast distances through the air.
If the fungus spreads and infects enough plants, it can wreak havoc over large areas. In the 1990s — shortly after its discovery — wheat blast impacted around three million hectares of wheat in South America. Back in 2016, the disease appeared in Bangladesh and South Asia for the first time, and the resulting outbreak covered around 15,000 hectares of land. CGIAR estimates that the disease has the potential to reduce the region’s wheat production by 85 million tons.
In Brazil, wheat blast outbreaks can have a marked impact on the country’s agricultural output. During a major outbreak in 2009, the disease affected as many as three million hectares of crops in South America. As such, the EWS is an invaluable tool to support food security and farmer livelihoods. Fernandes notes that affected regions can go multiple years between large outbreaks, but the threat remains.
“People forget about the disease, then you have an outbreak again,” he says.
Essential partnerships
The EWS has its roots in Brazil. In 2017 Fernandes and his peers published a piece of research proposing the model. After that, Tim Krupnik, a senior scientist and country representative with CIMMYT in Bangladesh, along with a group of researchers and organizations, launched a pilot project in Bangladesh.
There, agriculture extension officers received an automated email or text message when weather conditions were ideal for wheat blast to thrive and spread. The team used this proof of concept to bring it back to Brazil.
According to Krupnik, the Brazil platform is something of a “homecoming” for this work. He also notes that cooperation between the researchers, organizations and agriculture workers in Brazil and Bangladesh was instrumental in creating the system.
“From this, we’re able to have a partnership that I think will have a significant outcome in Brazil, from a relatively small investment in research supplied in Bangladesh. That shows you the power of partnerships and how solutions can be found to pressing agricultural problems through collaborative science, across continents,” he says.
On November 13, 2020, researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI) held a virtual meeting to update Bangladesh’s Minister for Agriculture Md Abdur Razzaque on their organizations’ ongoing research activities regarding the development of sustainable, cereal-based farming systems.
The purpose of this event was to inform influential stakeholders of the implications of the impending transition to One CGIAR for collaborative research activities in Bangladesh and how CIMMYT will continue its support to the its partners in the country, including the government and other CGIAR centers. The event was chaired by CIMMYT’s Director General Martin Kropff, who called-in from CIMMYT’s headquarters in Mexico, and Razzaque, who attended the event as a special guest. Around 21 participants from various government offices including the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) were in attendance.
Speaking at the event, Razzaque thanked CIMMYT for its support in increasing maize and wheat production in Bangladesh — as the main source of germplasm for these two crops — which has been crucial for assuring food and income security and helping the country reach towards the Sustainable Development Goals. He expressed his gratitude for CIMMYT’s help in mitigating the threats posed by pests and diseases, and supporting climate information services which have enabled farmers to avoid crop losses in mung bean, and he requested that CIMMYT to intensify its research on cropping systems, heat- and disease-tolerant wheat varieties, and the introduction of technologies and farming practices to sustainably increase production and reduce wheat imports.
Martin Kropff gives an overview of CIMMYT research in Bangladesh during a virtual meeting with stakeholders. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Timothy J. Krupnik, CIMMYT’s country representative for Bangladesh, guided participants through the history of CIMMYT’s engagement in Bangladesh from the 1960s to the present and outlined the organization’s plan for future collaboration with the government. In addition developing wheat blast-resistant varieties, exchanging germplasm and seed multiplication programs for disease-resistant varieties, Krupnik described collaborative efforts to fight back against fall armyworm, research in systems agronomy to boost crop intensity and the use of advanced simulation models and remote sensing to assist in increasing production while reducing farm drudgery, expensive inputs, water and fuel use, and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
He also highlighted efforts to create a skilled work force, pointing to CIMMYT’s collaboration with the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) on appropriate agricultural mechanization and USAID-supported work with over 50 machinery manufacturers across the country.
“This historical legacy, alongside world-class scientists and committed staff, germplasm collection, global impact in farmer’s fields, next generation research and global network of partners have made CIMMYT unique,” explained Kropff during his closing remarks, which focused on the organization’s research and collaboration on climate-smart and conservation agriculture, high-yielding, stress- and disease-tolerant maize and wheat variety development, value chain enhancement, market development, precision agronomy and farm mechanization in Bangladesh.
He expressed his gratitude towards the Government of Bangladesh for supporting CIMMYT as an international public organization in the country, thus enabling it to continue delivering impact, and for recognizing the benefits of the transition to a more integrated network of international research centers through One CGIAR, under which CIMMYT and other centers will strengthen their support to the government to help Bangladesh achieve zero hunger.
To the first-time observer, the aftermath of a fall armyworm infestation must be terrifying. The larvae can cause significant damage to an entire field in a single night, leaving once-healthy leaves looking like tattered rags.
A new instructional video, which will air in Bangladesh, aims to combat both the pest and the distress its appearance can cause with detailed, actionable information for farmers. The video describes how to identify the pest, its lifecycle and the kind of damage it can do to maize — among other crops — and provides techniques for identifying, assessing, and combating an infestation.
This video was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with support from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI), as part of the project Fighting back against fall armyworm in Bangladesh. Supported by USAID’s Feed the Future Initiative and Michigan State University, this CIMMYT-led project works in synergy with the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), and with national partners to mitigate the impact of this invasive pest on smallholder farmers’ livelihoods.
The video is available in Bangla with English captions.
When we talk about the impact of agricultural research we often rely on numerical metrics: percent increase in yield, percent decrease in crop loss, adoption rates, etcetera. For farmers on the ground, however, the impact can be much harder to boil down to a few numbers. Hiding behind every statistical table are real stories of dreams dashed or fulfilled, of everyday people trying to survive and flourish.
A new educational video powerfully dramatizes this point through the story of Jamal Mia and his daughter Rupa. Jamal’s dreams to own a house and see Rupa enroll in college are threatened when his maize crop is attacked by fall armyworm. An encounter with an agricultural extension officer puts Jamal on track to tackle the infestation, save his crop and secure his family’s wellbeing.
The video was developed by CIMMYT with support from Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension and the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI), as part of a project titled “Fighting back against fall armyworm in Bangladesh.” Supported by USAID’s Feed the Future Initiative and Michigan State University, this CIMMYT-led project works in synergy with the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) and with national partners to mitigate the impact of this invasive pest on smallholder farmers’ livelihoods.
The video was filmed in Dinajpur district, Bangladesh, and is available in Bangla with English captions.
Wheat blast damages wheat spikes. (Photo: Xinyao He / CIMMYT)
In an article published in Nature Scientific Reports, a team of scientists led by wheat breeder Philomin Juliana from the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center (CIMMYT) conducted a large genome-wide association study to look for genomic regions that could also be associated with resistance to wheat blast.
Juliana and fellow scientists found 36 significant markers on chromosome 2AS, 3BL, 4AL and 7BL that appeared to be consistently associated with blast resistance across different environments. Among these, 20 markers were found to be in the position of the 2NS translocation, a chromosomal segment transferred to wheat from a wild relative, Aegilops ventricosa, that has very strong and effective resistance to wheat blast.
The team also gained excellent insights into the blast resistance of the globally-distributed CIMMYT germplasm by genomic fingerprinting a panel over 4,000 wheat lines for the presence of the 2NS translocation, and found that it was present in 94.1% of lines from International Bread Wheat Screening Nurseries (IBWSNs) and 93.7% of lines from Semi-Arid Wheat Screening Nurseries (SAWSNs). Although it is reassuring that such a high percentage of CIMMYT wheat lines already have the 2NS translocation and implied blast resistance, finding other novel resistance genes will be instrumental in building widespread, global resilience to wheat blast outbreaks in the long-term.
The researchers used data collected over the last two years from CIMMYT’s IBWSNs and SAWSNs by collaborators at the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI) and Bolivia’s Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agropecuaria y Forestal (INIAF).
Devastating fungal disease
Wheat blast, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum, was first identified in 1985 in South America, but has been seen in Bangladesh in recent years. The expansion of the disease is a great concern for regions of similar environmental conditions in South Asia, and other regions globally.
Although management of the disease using fungicide is possible, it is not completely effective for multiple reasons, including inefficiency during high disease pressure, resistance of the fungal populations to some classes of fungicides, and the affordability of fungicide to resource-poor farmers. Scientists see the development and deployment of wheat with genetic resistance to blast as the most sustainable and farmer-friendly approach to preventing devastating outbreaks around the world.
This work was made possible by the generous support of the Delivering Genetic Gains in Wheat (DGGW) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and managed by Cornell University, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future initiative, the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsråd), and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
Wheat blast, a fast-acting and devastating fungal disease, has been reported for the first time on the African continent. In an article published in the scientific journal PLoS One, a team of scientists confirmed that symptoms of wheat blast first appeared in Zambia during the 2018 rainy season, in experimental plots and small-scale farms in the Mpika district, Muchinga province.
Researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the US Department of Agriculture – Foreign Disease Weed Science Research Unit (USDA-ARS) and the Zambian Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI) participated in this study.
Wheat blast poses a serious threat to rain-fed wheat production in Zambia and raises the alarm for surrounding regions and countries on the African continent with similar environmental conditions. Worldwide, 2.5 billion consumers depend on wheat as a staple food and, in recent years, several African countries have been actively working towards reducing dependence on wheat imports.
“This presents yet another challenging biotic constraint to rain-fed wheat production in Zambia,” said Batiseba Tembo, wheat breeder at ZARI and lead scientist on the study.
A difficult diagnosis
Researchers from ZARI check for wheat blast in experimental plots. (Photo: Batiseba Tembo/ZARI)
“The first occurrence of the disease was very distressing. This happened at the spike stage, and caused significant losses,” Tembo said. “Nothing of this nature has happened before in Zambia.”
Researchers were initially confused when symptoms of the disease were first reported in the fields of Mpika. Zambia has unique agro-climatic conditions, particularly in the rainfed wheat production system, and diseases such as spot blotch and Fusarium head blight are common.
“The crop had silvery white spikes and a green canopy, resulting in shriveled grains or no grains at all… Within the span of seven days, a whole field can be attacked,” Tembo explained. Samples were collected and analyzed in the ZARI laboratory, and suspicions grew among researchers that this may be a new disease entirely.
Tembo participated in the Basic Wheat Improvement Course at CIMMYT’s global headquarters in Mexico, where she discussed the new disease with Pawan Singh, head of Wheat Pathology at CIMMYT. Singh worked with Tembo to provide guidance and the molecular markers needed for the sample analysis in Zambia, and coordinated the analysis of the wheat disease samples at the USDA-ARS facility in Fort Detrick, Maryland, United States.
All experiments confirmed the presence of the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum (MoT), which causes the disease.
“This is a disaster which needs immediate attention,” Tembo said. “Otherwise, wheat blast has the potential to marginalize the growth of rain-fed wheat production in Zambia and may threaten wheat production in neighboring countries as well.”
Wheat blast spreads through infected seeds and crop residues, as well as by spores that can travel long distances in the air. The spread of blast within Zambia is indicated by both mechanisms of expansion.
Wheat blast has expanded rapidly since it was initially discovered in Brazil in 1985. (Map: Kai Sonder/CIMMYT)
A cause for innovation and collaboration
CIMMYT and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT) are taking action on several fronts to combat wheat blast. Trainings and international courses invite participants to gain new technical skills and knowledge in blast diagnostics, treatment and mitigation strategies. WHEAT scientists and partners are also studying the genetic factors that increase resistance to the disease and developing early warning systems.
“A set of research outcomes, including the development of resistant varieties, identification of effective fungicides, agronomic measures, and new findings in the epidemiology of disease development will be helpful in mitigating wheat blast in Zambia,” Singh said.
“It is imperative that the regional and global scientific communities join hands to determine effective measures to halt further spread of this worrisome disease in Zambia and beyond,” Tembo expressed.
Financial support for this research was provided by the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS).
The Basic Wheat Training Program and Wheat Blast Training is made possible by support from investors including the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), WHEAT, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Krishi Gobeshona Foundation (KGF), the Swedish Research Council (SRC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the United States Agency for International Development and the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR).
About CIMMYT
The International Maize and What Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR programs on Maize and Wheat and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies. For more information visit staging.cimmyt.org.
The FAO official pointed out that a number of factors help to shield Bangladesh, including the direction of the wind, the monsoon, and India’s robust locust monitoring system.
